Film & Theatre Reviews

A Quiet Place (2018)

Rating: 5/10

From sit-com paper salesman to starring in Amazon Prime’s Jack Ryan, John Krasinski has really climbed up the ranks of Hollywood stardom. And now, Krasinki starred and directed the “block-buster horror film of 2018.” So, a 5 out of 10? I know, just hear me out.

Admittedly, I seldom watch horror movies. They scare the living daylights out of me, so I had high expectations for such a hyped movie. However, I was left disappointed with the results of the film.

When trailers of A Quiet Place first took place in early 2018, horror film fans were ecstatic. Along with the talents of John Krasinski and his wife, Emily Blunt, playing well… a married couple in the movie as a message to their own children about the lengths they would go to protect them, people expected they would need tissues.

Photo Courtesy of Paste Magazine

A Quiet Place follows the Abbott family in the midst of their mission to survive blood-thirsty monsters with an inhuman level of hearing. They must remain completely silent to avoid the reach of the mysterious creatures.

Right off the bat, the movie opens up to Day 83 of this unexplained dilemma. The family scours an abandoned convenience store for resources. While returning to their cabin, the youngest son accidently turns his noisy toy on, inevitably leading to his early death.

Photo Courtesy of Inverse

A time skip brings the audience to Day 483. The Abbott family lives in a house on a secluded farm. The mother is pregnant and on the verge of giving birth. While the father and son are out, the mother suddenly goes into labor and finds that she cannot find her deaf daughter. The monsters come searching for her, however, the father and son save her just in time. Eventually, the daughter and son find themselves trapped and a monster begins to attack them. The father comes to the rescue and sacrifices himself to save his children. As more monsters approach the house, it is up to the mother and her children to save their own lives.

And that’s it. The movie just ends there. And sure, there is action and… well, that’s it really. I have difficulty to even say it’s scary, because, to be frank, it’s not. There were absolutely zero times in the film in which someone would feel a pit in their stomach or even just get goosebumps. The movie was simply not scary.

Furthermore, the movie lacked a real story. An argument can be made where the lack of explanation is part of the horror, but the movie itself was really only rising and falling action. The climax (when Lee, the father, sacrifices himself for his children) itself was incredibly predictable. I mean, of course the father dies. It’s like a PG-13 version of Bambi.

Tl;dr: If you like horror movies, A Quiet Place is worth watching, similar to all crappy horror movies. However, if you’re a critic like me, don’t waste your time. The “scariest movie of the year” was predictable, sloppy, and dare I say, not all that scary.